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Tax affects us all, at most stages of our life. It doesn’t matter if you are starting school, sitting your exams, entering the world of work or even retiring – we all encounter the tax system, from paying tax on our everyday purchases (excise duties and VAT) through to the income tax and national insurance (NI) payment that comes out of our pay packet each month. And tax can be a complicated subject, let’s be honest. But it needn’t trip you up.

Yet, students are entering university and work with little or no knowledge of correct tax codes or the pitfalls of overpaying or underpaying tax despite the fact that the vast majority will encounter these in their working lives either via Pay As You Earn or self-assessment. That is where we can help.

The Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG), an initiative of the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT), have launched Tax Guide for Students, a new HMRC and CIOT funded website dedicated to helping students and their advisers with their tax affairs.

Endorsed by the National Association of Student Money Advisers (NASMA) and the National Union of Students (NUS), the website provides simple, clear and impartial advice broken down into manageable chunks, in order to answer the questions most likely to be asked by a student new to tax. We also provide helpful factsheets and links to government bodies or other organisations where further information can be found.

Your chosen course may take you abroad so check out the Going abroad section before you go.

Confused about student loans? Go to our Student loans section to understand when and how you will have to pay that back.

Think that you have paid too much tax and might be entitled to a tax refund? We provide the information to help work out if you have paid too much tax in our tax refunds section and we show you how to claim it back.

You will also see that there is a section about choosing a career in tax. Consider this – a job in an ever-changing, dynamic working environment, with a mix of people from all walks of life; a job that could be in government or in an accountancy practice and a job which could take you to all parts of the world – yes they are out there, just check it out here!